Sunday, August 14, 2005

Taking a shot

I was reading http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com/ and there was an interesting quote from Mike Caro which basically said that if you can afford it and you've a small bankroll there's nothing wrong with taking a shot at the higher levels.

With this in mind I deposited $300 at Interpoker to get a $300 bonus which I'll probably clear just before my retirement party.

Played 6 max and I have to say I found the play at Interpoker to be quite loose and wild.Big swings all day and night. Mrs A was busy doing up the wee ones room so I played for 15 hours with only a few breaks.3pm -6.15am.A mighty session.

I lost one buy in when I had K 8 and called an all in on a K 8 6 rainbow flop. Turn came 7 and river a 9 to give him a straight with K 10.Who pushes all in on the flop for $70 with that? Well he did obviously but this was $2 nl and I expected a higher standard.

Another similar beat and I lost another buy in.Patience I told myself. I was playing well and not tilting so I deposited another $400 and moved to $2-$5 nl to see if the games were as juicy.

I bought in for $400 and won $332 giving me a profit of $32 for all my play.Didn't get many quality starting hands either and when I did they didn't hold up.Had AA busted twice.Thats 4 in a row now.Isn't variance great?

The highs n lows of a session like that are why I play poker.Finding the mental strength to keep playing my A game after a major suckout at a table I don't have the bankroll for is all part of the fun. I've won with AA 80% of the 135 times I've had them from 30k hands.You have to be prepared for the 20% of the time they don't hold up.For that reason I may stay away from taking any more shots at $2 -$5 but apart from more preflop agression there didn't seem to be much to be afraid of.Then again I may not...

Overall though I'm please with the way my session went though.I probably did play too tightly and when we were 4 handed at some points the blinds seem to come round very quickly but I think I've seen enough to see that $2-$5 at least on Interpoker is not entirely outwith my playing range.One big advantage to Interpoker is that there were a lot of UK players and I'm sure that more than one or two of them were having a few too many beers during the game.There really was some crazy play out there.

I'm always aware that table selection is crucial but site selection may be just as important and while I've always loved Pokerroom but I'm going to work at clearing my bonus at Interpoker for a while and see if the games are as loose as they seemed last night.

Watching the football this afternoonRangers drawing 2-2 with Aberdeen with 1/2 hr left.

Rented Oceans 12 on dvd for tonight.A nice dinner and a wee night in front of the box ahead.

My Alfa goes in tomorrow for its Mot and timing belt and for half the original price quoted.Pays to shop about.

Nearly forgot to mention that one of my biggest pots of the night was when I had 72s and flopped a flush. Juice would probably say soooted doesn't count as The Hammer but when I showed it down and wrote "The best damn hand in poker" I didn't care.

The poor guy on the end of that one lost another big pot a few hands later to another flopped flush.This time 73s.

I also won my biggest pot ever.$545 in total when I hit a flush on the river and had my $150 bet called by a guy who questioned my play.

"Its my first time playing.I've seen it on tv.Its easier than it looks" was my reply.